So after a fairly disastrous budget and a Tory donations scandal, Labour’s poll lead is looking both bigger and more secure. It’s a verifiable budget bounce. And with more bad headlines for Cameron this morning, Tory attack lines on Labour and the unions aren’t cutting through (yet) to the front pages.

But rather than rest on our laurels as we head into a parliamentary recess (and why do the Tories also get embroiled in these scandals just before a recess, eh?) Labour must take this opportunity to be big and bold.

We must accept, if we are being at all honest and realistic, that any polling bump that Labour has received is due almost entirely to a negative reaction to the Tories, rather than a positive reaction to us. We barely have any policies to speak of – how could it be otherwise? We have not, as yet, provided anyone with a compelling argument for why Labour should win the next election.

Reminding everyone that the Tories and their yellow friends are making a mess of things doesn’t count … (full text).